The Ben Simmons Megathread - Part III

[Bum Adebayo]

Simmons has a top 5 player upside, as I said many times, his talent is ridiculous, the way he moves with ease at his height/frame is amazing, never saw anythng like him in transition and attacking the basket, such easiness, coupled with elite IQ, elite vision and elite handles, he has all the ingredients of things that can't be taught. The only things he is missing are the things that can be taught, and that is why he has top 5 potential, but a terrible merit/talent ratio, because he has gotten here just coasting on talent, speaks volumes about his ridiculous talent and his terrible work ethic.

[shlo]

Simmons has a top 5 player upside, as I said many times, his talent is ridiculous, the way he moves with ease at his height/frame is amazing, never saw anythng like him in transition and attacking the basket, such easiness, coupled with elite IQ, elite vision and elite handles, he has all the ingredients of things that can't be taught. The only things he is missing are the things that can be taught, and that is why he has top 5 potential, but a terrible merit/talent ratio, because he has gotten here just coasting on talent, speaks volumes about his ridiculous talent and his terrible work ethic.

I see a guy who does not move with ease. He has great straight line speed/ability, but lacks the ability to move gracefully side to side. He's not the kind of guy who can shake and wiggle on a drive. It's all on a straight line. He also has no touch and no finesse around the basket. He's stiff down there. It seems like he drives to within a couple feet of the basket and passes out because he doesn't have the finesse to adjust when he can't go in a straight line.

[Bum Adebayo]

Simmons has a top 5 player upside, as I said many times, his talent is ridiculous, the way he moves with ease at his height/frame is amazing, never saw anythng like him in transition and attacking the basket, such easiness, coupled with elite IQ, elite vision and elite handles, he has all the ingredients of things that can't be taught. The only things he is missing are the things that can be taught, and that is why he has top 5 potential, but a terrible merit/talent ratio, because he has gotten here just coasting on talent, speaks volumes about his ridiculous talent and his terrible work ethic.

I see a guy who does not move with ease. He has great straight line speed/ability, but lacks the ability to move gracefully side to side. He's not the kind of guy who can shake and wiggle on a drive. It's all on a straight line. He also has no touch and no finesse around the basket. He's stiff down there. It seems like he drives to within a couple feet of the basket and passes out because he doesn't have the finesse to adjust when he can't go in a straight line.

He has some touch, he just doesn't practice for ****. You gotta practice those post moves and layups, he drives and tries to dish it out because it is what works best with his out of the box athleticism and vision talent, finishing better at the rim is something that requires more practice, doing that practice would allow him to install a firmware update that he still hasn't received.

[Ferry Avenue]

I think this is the year you trade Ben Simmons. Let some team overpay for him on the basis of his potential, before teams realize he will never reach his potential.

Another year of no shooting outside the paint says it all in my opinion. Certainly there should've been SOME progress in that area from one year to the next. The fact that there wasn't is disturbing, and you see that same kind of mentality displayed in other areas, like when he quit on the final play last night. Anybody who quits on that play isn't going to develop a jump shot.

Therefore I don't think Simmons has the mentality to ever be as great as his potential, and his presence on the Sixers hurts Embiid's game significantly in the playoffs. Time to move on and continue to build around Embiid with the right kind of pieces.

[Bum Adebayo]

I think this is the year you trade Ben Simmons. Let some team overpay for him on the basis of his potential, before teams realize he will never reach his potential.

Another year of no shooting outside the paint says it all in my opinion. Certainly there should've been SOME progress in that area from one year to the next. The fact that there wasn't is disturbing, and you see that same kind of mentality displayed in other areas, like when he quit in the final play last night. Anybody who quits on that play isn't going to develop a jump shot.

Therefore I don't think Simmons has the mentality to ever be as great as his potential, and his presence on the Sixers hurts Embiid's game significantly in the playoffs. Time to move on and continue to build around Embiid with the right kind of pieces.

This is where I'm at, if he wasn't such an horrendous fit with Embiid and you had say a Damian Lillard type of player instead of Embiid, then giving him max and hoping for him to reach his potential would make more sense. But Embiid is a ticking time bomb, we should not waste his prime years on a failed experiment, his prime will probably be short, ain't got no time to wait 3 more years to see if the pairing works better.

[Mik317]

trade him for what?

AD and Embiid isn't the best fit PLUS NO probably doesn't want to deal w/ Klutch sports anytime soon.

Lillard is a Blazer for life.

And if you trade Ben for a package of solid pieces and he develops, then you are the biggest idiot in the room.

I don't see much upside in trading him ATM unless its for a youngish guard w/ equal star potential...and not many of those are on the market.

[Kobblehead]

I don't see much upside in trading him ATM unless its for a youngish guard w/ equal star potential...and not many of those are on the market.

I'd move Ben in a swap for Jamal Murray in a heartbeat.

I'd also be exploring salary-matching capabilities in a potential Devin Booker or Bradley Beal trade.

Hell, I'd even kick the tires on a Collin Sexton + assets deal.

We need 3-level threats on the ball. Ben will never be that and he's about to be an AWFUL asset once he gets his max extension this summer.

[Mik317]

why would Denver or Phoenix make that deal tho? They'd want to add Ben to play next to those guys IMO.

...i'd think about the Sexton deal tho lol. Their first (and maybe more) gotta be attached to it tho so I doubt they'd do that either.

Thats my whole thing tho. There are players out there i'd trade Ben for...I just don't think those guys are on the market and if so..not for Ben. Its one of those things in which I think if those teams came to us, we'd be fine...but if we went to them, they'd wonder what we know about Ben...yknow?

[PhillyFan11]

Ya I think people are just going to have to accept that Ben is NOT a top 15 franchise player type of guy...nor will he ever be. But that doesn’t make him bad or useless. He can be a great role player and there’s no reason a good coach, combined with willingness from the individual players, can’t make Embiid + Simmons work.

[XDevilBoiX]

In an effort to shake things up this offseason, the Philadelphia 76ers may try to trade Ben Simmons to the Los Angeles Lakers for future Hall-of-Famer LeBron James, according to a report from Tom Haberstroh of NBC Sports.

The idea behind a potential swap of the two All-Stars is that the Sixers could look to trade Simmons given his inability to space the floor, while playing in Philadelphia would give James a better opportunity to compete for championships as he ages.

From Haberstroh:

"Fair or not, Simmons failing to add some semblance of a jump shot in Year 2 of his career is seen as a reason that Philadelphia has to put him on the trade block. Perhaps this is just wishful thinking by rival executives. There has been no indication from the Philly side that Simmons is being floated or will be this summer.

It’s early in that process. Leonard’s shot just fell through the net. But one Western Conference executive brought up a name that could be a Simmons trade target: LeBron James.

'I think they very well might explore that,' said a rival executive of Philadelphia.

Would you? Lol

[Mik317]

that would be hilarious lol.

[51X3RF4N]

I think the bigger issue here is Ben's position. He is not a PG in the half court, regardless of whether he comes out shooting 4 jumpers a game next season. He is too turnover prone and lacks that defining ability to create space and hit a shot.

The best thing he could do is work all summer on his catch and shoot ability, especially from the corners. If he can develop into a 35% shooter in those situations, he becomes exactly what the Sixers need as a stretch 4 Draymond type.

And then the strategy becomes, either convert Jimmy to full time PG, or go get a PG who can create his own shot and run the offense. Slide Tobias to SF, slide Jimmy to SG.

Starting lineup of 6'8, 6'9, 6'10, 7'2 and a PG. Length, athleticism, defense, and 2 wings who can score the rock or run PNR with a PG or Embiid. Simmons sets screens, becomes the roll man in PnR, gets his corner 3 looks, and posts up/rebounds to push the fast break.

[Kobblehead]

Ya I think people are just going to have to accept that Ben is NOT a top 15 franchise player type of guy...nor will he ever be. But that doesn’t make him bad or useless. He can be a great role player and there’s no reason a good coach, combined with willingness from the individual players, can’t make Embiid + Simmons work.

You can get the duo to work, theoretically, but you're not maximizing either player. So it begs the question on why to even travel down that path.

And while Ben Simmons will never be bad or useless on the court, he will very quickly become a bad asset on his looming max extension so there should be an urgency to move off of him.

[AllHype3]

How about a deal with the other LA team. The Clippers.
SGA and Shamet for Simmons

Sent from my SM-J327V using RealGM mobile app

[Kobblehead]

Regarding LeBron: Hell no.

His durability is going to continue to diminish even further and his interest in basketball has already diminished.

[PhillyFan11]

Ya I think people are just going to have to accept that Ben is NOT a top 15 franchise player type of guy...nor will he ever be. But that doesn’t make him bad or useless. He can be a great role player and there’s no reason a good coach, combined with willingness from the individual players, can’t make Embiid + Simmons work.

You can get the duo to work, theoretically, but you're not maximizing either player. So it begs the question on why to even travel down that path.

And while Ben Simmons will never be bad or useless on the court, he will very quickly become a bad asset on his looming max extension so there should be an urgency to move off of him.

I’m definitely not opposed to trading Ben for the right package...and I don’t doubt Elton will explore some options of a trade in the off season. But I also would certainly listen to phone calls on Embiid. Building a franchise around a 7’2 C with extremely questionable longevity is a risk...at best. Of course I know that won’t actually happen, but the package would definitely be better and we would have a more realistic shot at building a more well balanced team

[XDevilBoiX]

https://www.nba.com/sixers/video/teams/sixers/2019/05/13/2606064/1557777317200-program-clean-20190513-145147-2606064

I feel confident Ben gonna come back next season with a jumper lol

[ProcessDoctor]

Hell no to Simmons for LeBron.

[Ferry Avenue]

I think the bigger issue here is Ben's position. He is not a PG in the half court, regardless of whether he comes out shooting 4 jumpers a game next season. He is too turnover prone and lacks that defining ability to create space and hit a shot.

The best thing he could do is work all summer on his catch and shoot ability, especially from the corners. If he can develop into a 35% shooter in those situations, he becomes exactly what the Sixers need as a stretch 4 Draymond type.

And then the strategy becomes, either convert Jimmy to full time PG, or go get a PG who can create his own shot and run the offense. Slide Tobias to SF, slide Jimmy to SG.

Starting lineup of 6'8, 6'9, 6'10, 7'2 and a PG. Length, athleticism, defense, and 2 wings who can score the rock or run PNR with a PG or Embiid. Simmons sets screens, becomes the roll man in PnR, gets his corner 3 looks, and posts up/rebounds to push the fast break.

I wouldn't mind Terry Rozier in that scenario, but I can't imagine Simmons becoming adequate shooting corner threes. Really he needs to play center in a small ball, pace and space offense, and run fast breaks for it. Half court, camp him down in the dunker's spot and surround him with shooters. On some other team, of course.

[Mauro Pedrosa]

Ya I think people are just going to have to accept that Ben is NOT a top 15 franchise player type of guy...nor will he ever be. But that doesn’t make him bad or useless. He can be a great role player and there’s no reason a good coach, combined with willingness from the individual players, can’t make Embiid + Simmons work.

You can get the duo to work, theoretically, but you're not maximizing either player. So it begs the question on why to even travel down that path.

And while Ben Simmons will never be bad or useless on the court, he will very quickly become a bad asset on his looming max extension so there should be an urgency to move off of him.

I’m definitely not opposed to trading Ben for the right package...and I don’t doubt Elton will explore some options of a trade in the off season. But I also would certainly listen to phone calls on Embiid. Building a franchise around a 7’2 C with extremely questionable longevity is a risk...at best. Of course I know that won’t actually happen, but the package would definitely be better and we would have a more realistic shot at building a more well balanced team

I understand thinking about trades, but the return would be very poor. There aren't many young guys who are skilled and have long contracts. And if there are, teams wouldn't want to trade them